BTW, we saw "Lincoln" this evening, just outstanding in every way. Very surprised it made it out of Hollywood because it very clearly and accurately tells the story of how conservatives freed the slaves and the democrats fought it tooth and nail. Kind of turned my mind into a pretzel to see Hollywood libs mouthing the lines that were prescribed for them, without choking on them. Not that the facts seem to influence anything anymore, it is interesting that it wasn't released a few weeks earlier.

Daniel Day Lewis was more Lincoln like than Abe himself. He merits an Academy Award for this role.

There are definitely head ons to be got from general admission, esp with something longer than 400. Its funny the expensive seats are probably great to sit and watch the race but dont offer much in terms of interesting angles.

How about an airplane?



Glenn

Glenn, you are right about the seating vs. GA. If I had not been with my friend I would have been scouting for a better view. I did go up to the top of the hill on turn 1, grand stand side and I still didn't find a view.

Just caught these guys having fun flying in front of my terrace!

No idea what type of planes?

L-39s? That doesn't seem right but maybe it's the paint job throwing me off this early in the morning.

A bit of digging turns up the display team Al Fursan from UAE, who fly Aermacchi MB339 aircraft in that paint scheme. They look pretty cool! I wonder what they are doing in London?

Welcome Almass! Lady Jo wins the quick ID prize!

Great shot Glenn. Did you get those through a fence? What do you suppose credentials offer that you can't get just walking around?

Probably quite a lot. I don't believe any of Glenn's shots were through a fence, and not mine either. There are two fences, once about 10 feet in front of the other. The credentialed guys can get in between but we can't, so you can't get close enough to the fences to really lose them with focus. I did try some fence shots but have yet to get all my pictures onto a computer. The other thing is the fences have a lot of horizontal wires which are hard to lose, too.

Thanks for the insight Jo. I hd an interesting conversation a few days ago. Remember how we commented on the L39 team at Thunder Over Cedar Creek? They didn't seem to be able to fly any semblance of a formation, and when they got anywhere near each other it looked more like an accident (and I mean that in every sense of the word), than an actual plan. Turns out the FAA felt the same way and grounded the pilots at a subsequent show when they exhibited similar antics, along with one of them clipping a hangar or something.

BTW, speaking of credentials, we, and you know who "we" are, are credentialed for this year's Thunder and will be given the run of the event. Who wants to volunteer for the show center pontoon boat vantage point?

Jim, this photo, by jawoods, is on the Sports Corner. It shows some of the credentialed people at CoTA.

Re: the fences. I can just about lose a brick column with the shallow depth of field of the 800, but I would imagine that lens would produce a considerable amount of "jello" on a moderately warm day what with a black track and the subjects being ground bound. Wonder if they'd even let me in with an 800, without credentials. Apparently I'll know more about all of that by the first part of next week.

Thanks Wrei, that kind of tells me what I needed to know.

Handy for the loo, then!

Actually speaking of loos, another area in which I must congratulate CoTA, they must have hired every portapotty in Texas. You never had to wait in line. They even had banks of them near the buses, at each end of the bus route.

Jim, you could probably take the 800 in without a problem. I saw a lot of big lenses over the weekend, folks were certainly carrying fixed 400/500 primes (with monopods!) and I guess the gate staff are not going to discern one big lens from the next.

Although I wonder how happy they would be about your cart full of large cases...

Wonder if an intuitive photographer with great people skills (Jim Wilson) could convince the owners a square frame could be inserted in the fence to allow a lens shade to pass through. Seems this could be done without losing the strength required for the chain fence. The only pro-like shots I have seen have been by the Austin MA2A pros. The one post in the Sports Corner look like they were over the fence...RVs?

There actually were a few camera holes cut into the fence around by turn 12. Mainly for video cameras I think; there was a long rectangle for the TV guy raised high up - he was on a platform. The was another hole lower down but the view from that was obstructed by barriers, so I don't quite understand that one.

After reading some posts in one of the sportscar racing forums I read, don't expect fan friendly access like fans enjoy at places like Road Atlanta and Road America. Both of those tracks have very few fences, and many areas where you can shoot without credentials. From the shot above, if that's credentialed access, count me out!! Not that I would ever be able to get F1 credentials.

There are good spots at turn 2,6,9,and 11 where the GA area is high enough to catch a corner exit without any fence. At lot of the bleachers have wheel chair ramps you can walk half way up and get over a fence. you can walk real "slow" up the track bridge stairs and shoot over. Granted I was there on the first practice day only - was sat/sun a lot more crowded Jo/Wrei? You're right about the atmospherics and the long lens - not much distance between those cars and the black top!


Glenn